Japan Earthquake

WASHINGTON — The world economic recovery is set to continue over the next two years and will not be derailed by the earthquake in Japan or the surge in commodity prices, according to the results of the latest global checkup released Monday by the International Monetary Fund. The world economy is set to grow 4.4% in 2011, down slightly from 5% in 2010. Growth will accelerate slightly to 4.5% in 2012. In the U.S., growth will stay at 2.8% this year before accelerating to 2.9% next year.

After a speech meant to bring clarity to U.S. engagement in crises abroad, President Obama will turn his attention to what aides say will be a sustained focused on energy issues in the coming weeks. On Wednesday, Obama will outline his plan for America's energy security in a speech at Georgetown University in Washington. It will be followed with a visit Friday to a UPS facility in nearby Landover, Md., in which Obama will inspect energy-efficient vehicles operated by major businesses like AT&T, FedEx and PepsiCo.

In what may be the first confirmed American casualty from the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan, a Virginia couple said the body of their 24-year-old daughter has been found amid the rubble. The family of Taylor Anderson, who was teaching English in Japan, released a statement saying they had been notified by officials from the U.S. Embassy in Japan that their daughter was found in the city of Ishinomaki in northeast Japan, the Associated Press reported. Officials at the embassy were not immediately able to confirm Anderson's death Tuesday.

Travelers are being offered many ways to contribute to the earthquake and tsunami relief effort in Japan. Some airline and hotel rewards programs will allow members to exchange their points for charity donations. In an earlier blog post, I wrote about donation options from American Airlines and All Nippon Airways . Here are more companies that provide ways to help, with links to their rewards programs: Hilton HHonors --Will match donations made by its members to a maximum of $250,000.

U.S. Geological Survey officials have chosen a name for the 9.0 temblor that struck Japan last week. They're calling it the Tohoku earthquake ? shortened from the original name used in Japan. Tohoku is a region in the northern part of Honshu, Japan's largest island. Though the region ? encompassing six of the island's northernmost prefectures ? sits north of the massive quake's offshore epicenter, it became its namesake because it takes up much of the area shaken by the earthquake's approximately 250-mile-long rupture area.

Hawaii officials estimate that the powerful tsunami generated from the Japan earthquake caused tens of millions of dollars in damage to ports, roads and homes in the state, and they expect tourism revenue to decline as Japanese travelers cancel vacations. The tsunami swept through the islands before dawn on Friday, and though the waves were much smaller than those that hit Japan's northeastern coast, they flooded some coastal businesses and hotel lobbies, sank boats and tore apart piers and infrastructure, Gov. Neil Abercrombie's office said.

There has been an outpouring of donations for victims of Japan's devastating earthquake and tsunami. Now travelers who are members of mileage reward programs have special ways they can heed the call for help. American Airlines will offer bonus miles to members of its AAdvantage rewards program who donate to the American Red Cross' Japan earthquake/tsunami relief program. Members who donate $50 will receive 250 bonus miles; $100 or more, 500 bonus miles. American has raised "more than a million dollars" in past relief efforts where employees and AAdvantage members made donations in similar programs, airline spokesman Tim Smith said in an e-mail.

As Japan grapples with the aftermath of its devastating earthquake and tsunami, the travel world also struggles with how to respond. Airlines already have offered refunds and waived change fees to passengers whose flights were immediately affected. The U.S. State Department updated its travel alert Sunday to include aftershocks, power outages and evacuations tied to the threat of a nuclear meltdown as reasons Americans might want to avoid traveling to Japan right now. But many travelers and tour operators are still mulling whether to continue with their plans in the next few months.

An international aid effort swelled Monday to help Japan deal with the trio of catastrophes that have mired the country in sorrow and fear. More than 90 nations have offered assistance in searching for survivors and extracting the dead from Friday's magnitude 8.9 earthquake, the devastating tsunami it spawned and the threat of radiation contamination emanating from three damaged reactors in the hard-hit northeast. The aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan arrived in Japan to augment a fleet of U.S. naval vessels deployed to help with air rescue operations and to ferry relief supplies to the hundreds of thousands displaced by the disasters.

The United States is not expected to experience "any harmful levels" of radiation from Japan's earthquake-damaged nuclear power reactors, according to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission . "All the available information indicates weather conditions have taken the small releases from the Fukushima reactors out to sea away from the population," the NRC said in a statement released Sunday. "Given the thousands of miles between the two countries, Hawaii, Alaska, the U.S. Territories and the U.S. West Coast are not expected to experience any harmful levels of radioactivity.